I was pleasantly surprised with how well this rental worked out for a weekend getaway for my family and I to float the river. From the pre-trip customer service to the post-trip follow-up, everything met or exceeded my expectations. The highlights:
1. Check-in (and check-out for that matter) was quick and smooth.
2. There are free tube rentals for your stay. You are able to check out as many tubes as your rental sleeps. They sell wristbands as well. As as added bonus, the guy who loaded up our tubes even offered to drive over to our rental the ones that we could not fit in our car. I would not expect this service all the time, but it was certainly appreciated!
3. The rental was cooled upon arrival. Clean and cutely appointed. It was much bigger than I imagined and I liked that it looked exactly as advertised. Every room had a closet and the kitchen was open to the living room. The master suite was very cozy. I LOVED that the back bedroom opened to the patio. Perfect for stepping outside and grabbing some fresh air.
Since the Rio is the corner unit, you have more of the shared backyard space to yourselves. This came quite in handy for storing our tubes overnight.
4. Kitchen was perfectly stocked and there was even coffee left from previous visitors.
5. There is a washer/dryer combo in this unit - perfect for longer stays
6. Location was perfect for floating the river. We walked right over with our tubes and were in the water within 15 min. No driving required.
7. Yard was kept up with and there is even an outdoor area for picnics
8. There is an app you can download to manage your reservations. This definitely came in handy.
There is room for improvement though. None of these were showstoppers for our party, but do consider these based on your needs:
1. Parking is limited and requires a pass. You are only given as many parking passes as bedrooms in your rental. There is additional parking at and near the main office, but that is not in walking distance so it would require two people to drop off and pick up cars parked there. This was a bit of a hassle for our party - we came from different directions and at different times so we ended up with 5 cars for our party of 8. I understand why they limit parking, but it's still a pain.
2. I felt like they were kind of Nazis about the towels. They have moved to white towels and thus, warned about over-soiling them, (even so far as to "suggest" women bring make up wipes for make-up removal) which I found odd. I was almost too scared to use them. TRV - you're a vacation rental, towels will get dirty. You shouldn't threaten to charge for towels damaged by their intended use. Also, they only provided 1.5 towels per person, which means for longer stays, you will be forced to do laundry. Again, understandable, but it was just strange seeing a specific line item for towels in my paperwork.
3. You can not set the AC lower than 72 degrees or the unit will freeze and you will be charged for the maintenance call. I find this ridiculous - ensure your equipment is adequate for use and be done with it.
4. You are also told you cannot overload the refrigerator with warm food or drinks because the the fridge cannot not cool fast enough to keep them from spoiling. Again, this is just silly. TRV needs to update their facilities/equipment to accommodate regular use.
5. There is nothing to do here, aside from the one outdoor picnic table. No pool, no court area, nothing. As a result, families with kids may find themselves bored after a while.
Those few items aside, I found the rental acceptable and would certainly recommend to other travelers.